Although I don’t often write about it, I’ve long been a fan of video games and retro titles in particular.
Like many kids growing up in the mid ’80s and early ’90s, my afterschool hours and weekends were dedicated to battling baddies on the Nintendo and Sega consoles. Video games were my best friend, my babysitter, and my worst enemy.
Although I don’t often write about it, I’ve long been a fan of video games and retro titles in particular.
Like many kids growing up in the mid ’80s and early ’90s, my afterschool hours and weekends were dedicated to battling baddies on the Nintendo and Sega consoles. Video games were my best friend, my babysitter, and my worst enemy. 
Of course, there is nothing special about my story. It’s par for the course for my generation. What was unique for me, however, was the way video games shaped my tastes in other forms of entertainment, especially music.
I didn’t realize until my early 20s that my favorite video game soundtracks were essentially metal music: fast tempos, galloping rhythms, harmonized “leads” and blazing fast runs that would humble many shred-style guitarists. Granted, the technology didn’t permit realistic guitar, drum or bass sounds. All the same, from a compositional standpoint, many Nintendo Entertainment System titles feature a very metal soundtrack.
It should be no surprise that, having grown up on these tunes, I became a fan of metal music.
Given the similarities between classic video game music and metal, perhaps it was only a matter of time before bands began dedicating themselves to covering these tunes.
Sure enough, there are now several bands that have gained a small following by playing rock or metal versions of video game music. Many of these songs are incredibly challenging. Their speed and complexity require mastery of the instruments.
Few bands possess such skill, and Powerglove—who will bring their unique brand of video game metal to the Hawthorne Theater on Tuesday, Oct. 4—is at the head of the pack.
The Vanguard had an opportunity to chat with Powerglove drummer Bassil Silver.
VANGUARD: So, do you guys think of yourselves as metal heads or game geeks? Both?
BASSIL SILVER: Definitely both. We partake in an unhealthy amount of heavy metal and video gaming.
VG: What is it like being a video game cover band and sharing the stage with more “brutal” metal acts?
BS: It’s actually pretty awesome. We’re all influenced by many different types of metal, from super glorious powermetal and Japanese Visual Kei, to Norwegian blackmetal and brutal deathmetal. So it’s nice to go out and share the stage with bands of different styles.
VG: Do you ever feel out of place at all, or have the fans been receptive? Do most metal heads seem to love classic games too?
BS: I think we’re a bit of an oddball on any tour, really, but in a way it’s a nice thing because it allows us to stand out and entertain the audience in our own weird way.
VG: I swear, it seems like every video game song has one really crazy run or riff in it. Which is the hardest for you guys to play and why?
BS: A bunch of the lines in Omnishred [from Final Fantasy VII] are written for keyboard, so they’re awkward to transfer over to the guitar.
VG: Did you guys ever imagine you’d get this far playing video game music? Whose idea was it to make a career out of it?
BS: We didn’t really know what to expect. We started off just recording video game covers and putting them up online for free and slowly started to build a fan base out of it. Once we started touring, it ended up becoming a full-time job.
VG: You’ve played Portland before. Any favorite spots?
BS: Yeah, to this day my favorite show we’ve ever played was supporting Dragonforce at the Roseland Theater.
VG: This is perhaps a tad off-topic, but have you ever seen the Angry Video Game Nerd? Are there any games that piss you off with their difficulty or crap-factor?
BS: Yeah, sure. Hydelide sucks!
VG: How about your favorite game?
BS: Probably Super Metroid or Final Fantasy VII. My least favorite would be Backgammon.
VG: Any plans to do a Gyruss cover?
BS: I’ve never played Gyruss, but I’ll check it out.
VG: Rumor has it you have some new recordings are on the way. Any details? Will they be video games covers?
BS: We’ve been working on a bunch of different stuff. A bunch of video game covers as well as original music. Not sure yet how or when we’ll release it.
VG: Lastly, have there been any legal challenges with recording video games covers? Any copyright issues or anything like that?
BS: Yeah, it’s a long process and definitely adds a lot of time to the writing/recording process. No battles or anything, just a ton of back and forth emails and the like. Not the most exciting part of Powerglove.
